Summary: True wisdom is more than knowledge, it is the right application of knowledge, especially a reverential awe and fear of our awesome God.

Proposition: True wisdom is more than knowledge, it is the right application of knowledge, especially a reverential awe and fear of our awesome God.

Objective: My purpose is to challenge people to know and experience the true wisdom of a reverential awe of God.

INTRODUCTION:

Illus: One of the commencement traditions at Harvard University is Senior Class Chapel. On the morning of their graduation, seniors gather in Memorial Church to hear the minister offer words of solace and encouragement as they leave "the Yard" to take their places in the world. The 1998 senior class heard the unvarnished truth from the Rev. Peter Gomes, minister at Harvard and the author of several books on the Bible…In his gentle ringing tones, that call to mind a cross between a Shakespearean actor and the TV sitcom character Frasier, the inimitable Doctor Gomes took no prisoners as he began: "You are going to be sent out of here for good, and most of you aren’t ready to go. The president is about to bid you into the fellowship of educated men and women and," - and here he paused and spoke each word slowly for emphasis - "you know just - how - dumb - you - really - are." The senior class cheered in agreement. "And worse than that," Doctor Gomes continued, "the world - and your parents in particular - are going to expect that you will be among the brightest and best. But you know that you can no longer fool all the people even some of the time. By noontime today, you will be out of here. By tomorrow you will be history. By Saturday, you will be toast. That’s a fact - no exceptions, no extensions." "Nevertheless, there is reason to hope," Doctor Gomes promised. "The future is God’s gift to you. God will not let you stumble or fall. God has not brought you this far to this place to abandon you or leave you here alone and afraid. The God of Israel never stumbles, never sleeps, never goes on sabbatical. Thus, my beloved and bewildered young friends, do not be afraid." What Doctor Gomes did for the senior class at Harvard, the Lord reveals to Job while he is in the midst of seeking to understand why he is suffering. He knew that wisdom is not the same as understanding even though knowledge is important.

IT IS WITH GOOD CAUSE that the term "information overload" was coined in recent years. Knowledge has increased within our generation almost beyond imagination! Here are just a few mind-boggling facts on this:

80% of all the scientists who have ever lived are alive right now.

Every minute they add 2,000 pages to man’s scientific knowledge. The material they produce every 24 hours would take one person five years to read.

Every day, the equivalent of over 300 million pages of text is sent over the Internet. According to Dr. Malcolm Todd, one-time president of the American Medical Association, about half of all medical knowledge is outdated every ten years. It is estimated that over 15,000 scientific journals are being published annually, and that throughout the world well over 1,000 new books are published every day.